Performance in CAPE Improves by 3.2%

JIS: The performance by students in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), improved by 3.2 per cent this year.

This was disclosed by Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, at a press conference held at his National Heroes Circle offices in Kingston, on August 18.

He informed that there was improved performance in 23 of the 36 subjects, when compared with 2016. The overall subjects included four new areas.

“There was a total of 59,740 subject entries for Units 1 and 2. Of this number, 56,468 (approximately 95 per cent) sat these examinations, with an average pass rate of 89.8 per cent, compared to 86.6 per cent last year when 59,394 subject entries were sat,” he said.

Providing a further breakdown of the results, Mr. Reid informed that Unit 1 had a total of 41,948 subject entries, of which 39,463 were sat with a pass rate of 88.9 per cent.

Of the 17,792 subject entries for Unit 2, a total of 17,005 were sat, with a pass rate of 91.8 per cent.

Turning to the performance of students in specific subject areas, the Minister informed that Electrical and Electronic Technology recorded an increase of 29.6 per cent, while Integrated Mathematics saw an increase of 28.8 per cent over the previous year.

However, Applied Mathematics and Pure Mathematics saw slight declines of 7.8 and 1.9 per cent respectively, when compared with 2016.

In the meantime, Mr. Reid informed that public schools accounted for 84.4 per cent (50,408) of the subject entries for Units 1 and 2. Of this number, 48,116 were sat, with an average pass rate of 91.3 per cent, which is an increase of 3.4 per cent over the previous year.

“Unit 1 had a total of 35,129 subject entries, of which 33,413 (95.1 per cent) were sat, with a pass rate of 90.6 per cent, representing a 2.4 percentage points increase from the previous year. Of the 15,279 subject entries for Unit 2, a total of 14,703 (96.2 percent) were sat, with a pass rate of 93 per cent, registering a 5.7 percentage points increase compared with 2016,” he said.

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, responds to questions from journalists during a press conference at his National Heroes Circle offices in Kingston on August 18. The conference was held to discuss the 2017 results of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examination.